122 On Ringing the Bark of Trees and Plants. 



The production of a greater crop of fruit is the most im- 

 portant of the advantages expected to ensue from ringing ; 

 this increase must, of course, arise from an additional num- 

 ber of blossoms, and, in some cases, from blossoms that would 

 not have existed in the ordinary course of nature, without the 

 intervention of ringing ; the formation of flowers is therefore 

 the point to be looked to, in considering the application of 

 the practice. In those trees where the blossom buds are 

 produced on the wood of the preceding year, it is not to be 

 expected that the operation will have any effect on the quan- 

 tity of produce in the year in which the rings are cut ; and 

 it is on trees of this character that ringing has been chiefly 

 practised. On the contrary, in those trees which produce 

 the flowers on the present year's wood, (though not much 

 has yet been learned from experiment with respect to them), 

 the effect of the ringing will be seen immediately. 



The interruption of the passage of the descending sap, by 

 the incision in the bark, causes, in some cases, an alteration 

 in the quality and appearance of the fruit. In many in- 

 stances, in the first produce after the operation, it is consi- 

 derably increased in size on the ringed branches ; it is also 

 ripened earlier in the season, and that circumstance is ac- 

 companied with very extraordinary improvement in those 

 colours of the skin which indicate full maturity. 



Taking, therefore, into consideration the expectation of a 

 change both in the quantity and quality of the fruit, it will 

 be obvious that the spring is the most proper period to cut 

 the rings ; the bark is then very readily detached, and the 

 work may therefore be done with greater ease at that 

 season. 



